MAMA

A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring. Because of the complexity and differences of a mothers' social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition.

(here's my definition - somewhat)

From the day I was conceived

You have lived to make my life

A living bliss

A blessed experience

A journey of love, laughter and joy

A lesson that love, pure love,

Will not only bring my heart joy

But also allow me proximity and intimacy with my Creator.

You allowed God to have His way in me

When you, carrying the body that would house my soul,

Prayed for my well being...

My successes, my prosperity, my health...

You, all my life, have carried me in you...

With you

Wherever you went

In the late hours of the night, you looked upon my countenance

And let love flood you and overflow unto me...

In the early hours of the morn, while I lay asleep,

You prayed for and with me,

Speaking life beyond that which you had already given me

You looked beyond my childhood folly

You saw beyond my youthful stupidity

You looked at me, my soul, and saw a woman

Well groomed, well trained

Brought up under the shadow of God’s mighty wing

You saw a matriarch

Trained up and prayed up in the Word of God Almighty

You looked into my soul, using my eyes as a door

And showing me that your eyes are the mirror to which I can run

To remind myself of that reflection,

The image of what the Lord spoke to you when you first carried me

You have watched me blossom, and many a times in pain

You have watched me struggle

As I learnt the hurt that comes with freedom

And the pain that accompanies dependence

You have let me learn my lessons

And also taught me yours

You have shared your pains with me and your joys and celebrations too

You have made your heart a salubrious* home for mine

And have translated that heart into the home I have always loved and call mine

Where would I be without the love of God expressed by and through you?

What would I have become had you not allowed God into your heart?

Where would I turn had you not shown me that indeed the Lord loves me so?

What would my dreams be had you not prayed that they be according to His will?

I thank you

For the life you’ve given

For the love you’ve shown

For the patience, the kindness, the selflessness,

The truth, the protection, the trust,

The hope, the perseverance...

I thank you

For the life you’ve spoken

For the love you’ve shared

For seeing the perfect in my imperfections

The innocence in my sin

I thank you

For the late nights spent loving me

For the hours dedicated to teaching me

For the pain with which you corrected me

For the courage with which you girded me

I thank you

For the family I too will one day grow

For the living ‘How-To and How-Not-To’ book you are

For the memories formed and still to come

For the pride with which I can look at you

And the love with which I can smother you

I thank you

For the life

For the love

I thank God for you...

Dedicated to my loving and lovely mother, Lephepelo Lulu Oratile Dhladhla (nee Mokorosi).

Indeed the Lord has loved me so (oratile) by giving me you. I LOVE YOU TOO!

Prov 31:28 >HER CHILDREN ARISE AND CALL HER BLESSED<